Highlights

Pokemon Go could earn $3 billion in 2019

This is thanks to its constant updates

US was the largest contributor to its success in 2018

Pokemon Go may have released in 2016 but Niantic's mobile take on the long-running series was more popular in 2018 than it was in 2017 if its revenue is any indicator. According to research firm Sensor Tower, Pokemon Go revenue hit $795 million (roughly Rs. 5,600 crore) in 2018 versus the $7. This ensured the game made 35 percent more money in 2018 versus its 2017 earnings. In December 2018 alone, player spending on the App Store and Google Play exceed $75 million (around Rs. 530 crore) versus the $57.2 million (close to Rs. 400 crore) that was spent in December 2017. Pokemon Go averaged nearly $2.2 million (nearly Rs. 14 crore) per day in 2018 compared to the $1.6 million (around Rs. 112 crore) in 2017 Sensor Tower claims.

"Players in the United States spent the most in Pokemon Go last year, to the tune of $262 million or 33 percent of all gross revenue—the same percentage they contributed in 2017," a post from Sensor Tower's Randy Nelson reads. "Japanese players, by comparison, spent about $239 million, or 30 percent of the game's revenue in 2018, up from the 25 percent they contributed in 2017."

What's more is, Nelson speculates that if Niantic continue pursuing the same cadence of updates and content added to the game, it could earn even more, perhaps surpassing $3 billion in lifetime revenue in 2019.

Back in June, research firm SuperData said that Pokemon Go brought in $104 million and that its player base was at its highest since launch in 2016. Given the developer Niantic and platform owners Apple and Google do not share numbers themselves, it's unclear which of the two reports is closer to the truth.

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